If you recall (I'm sure you do not), it was exactly a year ago that certain parts of this region went for state elections and we shifted our usual cynicism to focus only on the positives, which underlined people's power.

But this year I am much more despondent.

The list of candidates declared by the various political parties fails to excite anyone really.

Let's come downstream the Brahmaputra from Sadiya, which is the upper tip of Assam. In the AGP BJP seat sharing the local party's Sarbananda Sonowal is the frontrunner in Dibrugarh. He's also the sitting MP. He's probably the only sitting MP who can afford to make some claims. That's because the controversial IMDT Act was repealed by his litigations.

Sonowal also enjoys the reputation of wresting a traditional INC seat by swinging caste equations.

Taking Sonowal on is someone who once missed being the Chief Minister of Assam , old horse from the Congress stable, Pawan Singh Ghatowar . Ghatowar is also the archetypal grassroot politician from the tea gardens of Assam who has forgotten his roots completely. His roots have also forgotten him.

Bordering Arunachal Pradesh is another LS constituency Lakhimpur which was an AGP stronghold till recently. The sitting MP Arun Sarma is a doctor in veterinary science who joined student politics during the Assam agitation.

His efforts in fighting for Majuli Island as a UNESCO world heritage site raised his profile but he cannot be credited with any substantial work.

Captain of Assam women's cricket team in the eighties, Jahanara Choudhury who grew up in a Muslim colony in Guwahati's Gandhi Basti is the Congress candidate taking on Sarma. Choudhury became Rani Narah after marrying a colleague from the agitation days, Bharat Narah who is an indigenous missing tribal and a state Congress heavyweight.

Rani's candidature was delayed in a faceoff with a younger candidate, a lady apparently closer to Gogoi camp. Rani is also the only woman fielded by the Congress in Assam.

BJP's understanding with the Satras or the Vaishnavaite monastries in Majuli (Sarma's stronghold) and the caste Assamese polarisation will mean that Rani will have to pick up the tribal vote. And with a near dissension in Congress surrounding her candidature, it's a tough three-week campaign for the former cricketer.

Jorhat is almost the bastion of the caste Hindu Assamese in Upper Assam. One constant that this constituency has had is Bijoy Krishna Handique. Son of a leading Assamese intellectual and a Sanskrit scholar Krishna Kanta Handique, Bijoy is a total non performer. He has been an old Congress face and a Union Minister. But taking him on is the Left contender Dhrupad Buragohain of the CPI. CPI has a different profile in Assam. The movement has been limited only to the Ahom dominated Sibsagar which is part of the Jorhat constituency.

The communist ideology here pertains to ethnic composition rather than class analysis. It's more or less seen as an Assamese party and Buragohain is sure to dent Hadique's vote bank.

The surprise gain could be yet again a tea garden boy, Kamakhya Prasad Tasha who entered politics four years ago. Tea garden votes are critical in any election in Assam and BJP's Tasha will try and exploit his background.

Tezpur, the cultural capital of Assam has probably the most controversial Congress candidate in the country. Mani Kumar Subba, with allegations of being a kingpin in a lottery scam and still fighting his citizenship status, is the Congress fundraiser whom the party cannot ignore. AGP's Joseph Toppo, a tea garden man, may take away some votes but is definitely not seen as a strong contender. The third in the fray is a victim of a freak riot that unsettled Guwahati in November 2007. Laxmi Orang was stripped and abused by rioters which catapulted into the national mind space. AUDF, a fairly new minority led party, picked her up and Laxmi is the face of the victimised common person. Again a tea garden girl Laxmi may not be the best voice for Assam in the LS. But her rivals with years of experience are no better.

The founder of AUDF is Badruddin Ajmal, the perfume king and a messiah for Muslims. His super specialty hospital in remote Hojai and other areas make up for his profile. He started modern madrassas where Muslim girls are taught martial arts.

He represents a majority of Muslims seen as immigrants and is Tarun Gogoi's b te noir.

Close to Muslim clergy, Ajmal also gives an impression of liberal Muslim. Today he is a formidable force having won considerable seats in the assembly polls. He is taking on a big Congress fish Santosh Mohan Dev in Silchar and also fighting the Dhubri seat. Both these seats require massive minority support.

Old-timers recalls Santosh Mohan Dev as a football refree who rose in the Congress hierarchy by his aggressive brand of politicking. He is Assam's most trusted AICC aide and enjoys the blessing of the 'Madam'.

In Kaliabor, erstwhile Prafulla Mahanta's empire, the Congress will try to retain a prestige seat. Fighting Tarun Gogoi's brother Dip Gogoi is AGP's Gunin Hazarika. But it will be the once poster boy of Assam politics Prafulla Mahanta who is expected to influence voters. His return to AGP after a failed attempt to run his own party will make a substantial difference.

The other brother in this three cornered contest is Sirazul from AUDF, brother of Badruddin Ajmal. So Tarun Gogoi has his brother pitched against the candidates of his two biggest rivals, Mahanta and Ajmal.

Closer to Guwahati is Nagaon which has a polarised vote bank.

Visually Nagaon is a crowded town with a unique feature. Every rickshaw has a back curtain of painted Bollywood heroes and heroines. One of the reasons for BJP winning this seat is probably due to the Hindu Muslim polarisation. BJP's Rajen Gohain who is the sitting MP is seen as a non-performer. But the other candidates are equally unexciting.

The Autonomous district seat, which includes Karbianglong and NC Hills, has a Karbi and Dimasa ethnic composition but it's largely been a Karbi identity. CPI(ML)'s Dr Jayanta Rongpi, a medico who uses chauvinistic Karbi sentiments, ruled this seat till Biren Singh Engti of the Congress sat on it.

While the salient feature of Assam MPs is that they don't participate in House debates or ask questions, Biren Singh's five-year silence actually made the LS Speaker comment on silent members.

Guwahati is the coveted seat, which can throw up surprises in abundance. Congress had offered it to the PM who actually has his official residence in this city. Assam's greatest icon Bhupen Hazarika lost Guwahati with a BJP ticket in the last elections to Kirip Chaliha of Congress. Chaliha's opposition to Gogoi ensured he lost his candidature and BJP brought back a former Union Minister Bijoya Chakravarty who had almost dissented when Hazarika was chosen a candidate. But Congress just cannot do without the first family syndrome. So Capt Robin Bordoloi, a former MLA and son of the first chief minister of Assam, is the Congress choice for Guwahati.

For anyone living in Assam, the upper Assam and lower Assam divide is very perceptible. Though Guwahati and Kamrup are actually in Lower Assam, for most Assamese, Lower Assam begins beyond the Brahmaputra in Guwahati.

Now if you travel up from the Assam-Bengal border at Kokrajhar and then Barpeta and follow the Northern Bank to Mangaldoi, I cannot think of any candidate who has a profile.

Except of course the most prominent face from Assam in the LS, Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary. Though he is the Bodo identity in the Upper House, there are hardly any expectations from Bwiswmuthiary.

So now that we have travelled down the map of Assam with some of the probable members of the next Lok Sabha, I am hitting the road to find out what the voters actually think.